Pakistan still on radar of terror financing watchdog

ISLAMABAD: Regardless of taking a number of vital steps towards terror financing, Pakistan stays on the radar of the Monetary Motion Activity Drive (FATF), a world watchdog monitoring terror financing, over considerations that it isn’t absolutely complying with curbs towards entities listed with the United Nations.

Pakistani officers, nevertheless, insist that they’ve executed rather a lot and would proceed to do no matter was required for the implementation of sanctions towards entities designated beneath the UNSCR 1267.

At a gathering held final week in Valencia, Spain, the FATF referred Pakistan to its regional affiliate, Asia/Pacific Group on Cash Laundering (APG), for additional evaluation and a comply with-up report.

FATF’s Worldwide Cooperation Assessment Group (ICRG), which analyses excessive-danger jurisdictions, has requested the APG to offer the revised comply with-up report on Pakistan after discussing it at its (APG’s) annual assembly scheduled for July.

The ICRG additional determined to ask Pakistan for its compliance report on the implementation of UNSCR 1267 in case the APG determined towards sending a revised report. It ought to be recalled that on earlier events, the APG had despatched its un-adopted report back to the ICRG. The ICRG would as soon as once more take up Pakistan’s case at its assembly in October.

Officers have downplayed the FATF referral as a procedural matter and anticipate that Pakistan can be cleared of considerations over the implementation of UN sanctions.

The Pakistan authorities has taken a variety of measures to squelch terror financing, together with freezing over one hundred financial institution accounts of UN-listed entities and people. Nevertheless, some nations stay involved about insufficient motion towards Hafiz Saeed and the entities linked to him – Jamaat-ud-Dawah and Falah-i-Insaaniat – each of that are on inside ministry’s watch record. There have additionally been considerations about fund-elevating and seminaries run by the Jaish-e-Muhammad.

The federal government’s actions towards terror financing, it’s believed, have been constrained by political and sure different issues. Nevertheless, worldwide strain has been unrelenting, forcing the federal government to take troublesome selections.

Hafiz Saeed was positioned beneath home arrest on Jan 30, forward of the FATF assembly in February. The ICRG even then referred Pakistan to the APG, which reported that: “there proceed to make sure UNSCR 1267 designated entities that obtain and disperse funds with out controls being utilized by the competent authorities.”

A fortnight earlier than final week’s FATF assembly, the federal government quietly banned the Tehreek-i-Azad-i-Jammu and Kashmir (TAJK), the newest of many organisations arrange by Hafiz Saeed that got here into the limelight on Kashmir Day in February, when it organised professional-Kashmir freedom rallies and displayed banners and streamers throughout the nation.

It was, as soon as once more, deemed inadequate to clear the ICRG’s doubts and Pakistan’s case was despatched again to the APG.

India is one nation that has been lively in sustaining strain on Pakistan on this rely. Nevertheless, there are specific Muslim nations, which too, have been unhelpful for Pakistan’s trigger.

A supply revealed that on the final APG assembly, Indonesia allowed submission of the un-adopted report on Pakistan to the FATF by opting to abstain. This was taken as a sign of no-objection to the transfer.